CFO Play Book For Mergers and Acquisitions

"You should be the quarterback of the deal, calling the plays, telling people when and how to do things," says one CFO. "You should be able to delegate so things are efficient and can be executed with little loss of time." CFOs say an efficient working relationship with a chief executive based on trust is essential during a M&A transaction. "You need to be able to make decisions on when to raise issues with the CEO during a deal," says the CFO. "Sometimes when things are fast moving you need to meet with the CEO every day. At other times not so frequently. He has to trust you so he has confidence of what to bring needs to be brought to his attention." The CFO's M&A check list includes an: 

• Accounting & legal due diligence checklist.
• If it involves a manufacturing facility, a manufacturing check list.
• An environmental checklist to make sure there is no environmental liability.
• A human resources checklist relating to employees, unions and morale.

And what is the CFO's biggest fear despite all the check lists during an acquisition? "That we have missed something in due diligence and we don't get the value we thought we would from the acquisition," says the CFO.